14 | August | 2012 | A Christmas Tree in Asia

So I made it to Tokyo. Rainy, rainy Tokyo. It is a bit of a bummer that it is raining. It cut my day in half but that is ok. I have a lounge with free wifi, thank you United Airlines, and soup to keep me entertained and warm. So how did I get here? It started with a bad salad. I ate a salad for lunch from the hotel on Sunday. I knew better… but it sounded so yummy. It must have been washed with dirty water because I got very ill. Right before I had to fly. But it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Because I was sick Matt stopped by with a Mizone and Poccari Sweat for me because he rocks. He also let me borrown 50,000 rupiah in case there were extra baggage charges at the airport since I was running low on cash. Thank goodness I did. The exit fee for international travelers has jumped from 100,000 rupiah to 150,000 rupiah. I had put aside 100,000 rupiah a long time ago but didn’t know it had jumped. So thank you Matt! You saved my traveling behind.
Waiting in the Yogyakarta airport was fine. It is a small airport and I only had an hour to wait. It was the Jakarta airport that was kind of a pain. A pain and then ok. The pain was because I had to go get my checked bags from Yogya and then check back in with All Nippon Airlines. First the staff told me 2D, which is actually D2 and was also wrong. THEN the staff told be ANA didn’t operate out of this airport. I MEAN COME ON! Know what airlines fly into your airport. Especially when you work for INFORMATION. Then finally someone pointed me to D1 which is where ANA actually was. Then, the nice part. ANA has a private lounge with quick immigration right before the private lounge. That was perfect. They also had soup and since my stomach was still a bit shaky that was a sight for sore eyes (and a sore stomach!). So I waited in the lounge till boarding time and got on the plane and left Jakarta.
The flight was very nice. I slept! Me! I slept on a plane! Well first I watched Invictus and had a bowl of noodles. Then *drumroll* I slept! I was so surprised when the stewardess woke me up for breakfast. I couldn’t believe I had fallen asleep on a plane. Business class is the best. Even better, I woke up close to Japan. I love Japan. Japan just makes me happy. I wish I had more time here and more money. Ha.

Entrance to the shrine

After I got off the plane I went to Naritasan Shinshoji Temple in Tokyo. Immigration wasn’t too bad and it only took me from 7 to about 7:45am to get out of the airport and to Narita station. Then I walked the 15 minutes to Naritasan. It was a nice little walk but man was it humid. I should have known it was going to rain on me by the feeling in the air and the color of the skies but I didn’t want to believe it I guess. The shrine is beautiful. Even when it it dreary and drizzly. There are a few reasons I chose this shrine to visit on my one day in Japan. 1.) It is beautiful 2.) It is close to Narita Aiport and wouldn’t cost that much to go to 3.) the kabuki connections to the temple.
Ichikawa Danjuro, the kabuki actor, prayed for the safety of his child at the temple. After his baby was delivered safely he because a strong believer in the temple and created a strong link between the Danjuro kabuki family and the Naritasan temple. I wanted to buy a bunch of protective Gomafuda, wooden amulets, for people… but I’m out of money. It is the thought that counts right? I am really sad though because it was my goal to buy two long life amulets for my kabuki teachers from this shrine because of its kabuki connections and I couldn’t afford them. It kind of broke my heart. I could afford an amulet for studying. Hopefully I can just get my PhD and that will make them proud and make up for the fact I couldn’t afford two amulets from Naritasan.

My “It is raining and I don’t like it” face

One other thing was a bummer. The rain. The rain was a big bummer. As I’ve mentioned I was low on funds and couldn’t afford an umbrella. I normally wouldn’t mind being caught in the rain. Especially since I was feeling healthy again. However, I had my laptop in my bag and that could not get soaked. So I was forced to hide form the rain and eventually give in and walk back during a dry spot. Which turned out to be a good choice because it poured a bit later. Once I got back to the airport I sat in the United lounge and watched it pour. It was nice to be somewhere dry with warm soup while it came down outside. Now I have only… oh… 6 hours left till I get on a plane. I guess I will entertain myself somehow. Shopping? Hello, Hello Kitty! Here are some photos of my day trip in Japan to entertain you!